This time, I won't be the devil.

……

[The living, the living, the road turns into a glacier]

……

[Endless Fighting Spirit, come out! ]

……

[Field expansion——]

I won’t waste any more time on this. Finally, I would like to send my sincere blessings to all the friends who have read this.

I wish you all will not fail in exams, will not have to work overtime, and will not have a guaranteed result in the card draw.

Hope to see you again tomorrow.

Chapter 44 Skeleton King (5K)

Got the worst start, but got the best opportunity.

This is how the former Skeleton Troll, now the Skeleton King, sums up his situation.

60 years ago, the moment it was born on the 19th floor, it encountered a group of adventurers.

At that time, the Skeleton Troll had not assimilated any skeletons yet. It had neither strength nor wisdom, and its combat power was not much stronger than that of ordinary skeleton soldiers. The adventurers defeated it easily.

"Master, we will take this magic stone."

The adventurers took the magic stone from the skeleton troll's body, and the story should have ended here.

However, after everyone else left, the old man who stayed behind collected the skeleton troll's bones and took them to the cemetery.

After entering the password and starting the elevator, they arrived at an underground space.

"Since you appear before me, it is fate. Before I get into the coffin, I will dig a grave for you."

The old man's action completely changed the fate of him and it.

The skeleton troll was not completely dead at this time, and its corpse was still alive.

But after losing the magic stone, it also lost the ability to move. In half a day, this pile of bones will be absorbed by the maze.

However, it was surprised to find that its skill [Assimilation], which could only be used on corpses, could actually be used on the old man in front of it.

This situation was obviously abnormal, but the dying Skeleton Troll had no energy to think about it.

In this way, with only one breath left, it successfully usurped the old man's body and achieved resurrection.

Along with it, he also obtained the memory of the old man named Petrarch.

Petrarch was born in 887 of the Aiden calendar, when the area surrounding the Labyrinth City was still under the rule of the demons.

By the middle and late stages of the Holy War, the demons no longer slaughtered humans in the occupied areas at will. In addition, they did not have to pay taxes, so although the humans in the occupied areas had no dignity, they could still barely get by.

Petrarch's mother died during childbirth, and his father, who raised him, was an honest farmer. If nothing unexpected happened, Petrarch would have become a farmer in the future.

But after the establishment of the Theocracy, as the Terra Federation sent troops to retake the Labyrinth City, Petrarch's hometown was once again involved in the war.

That day, 13-year-old Petrarch escaped from the burning village alone.

It was unknown how long they walked, until it started to rain heavily and Petrarch arrived at the wasteland outside the city.

At this time, his body was severely burned, and the wounds became infected after being caught in the rain. Coupled with hunger and cold, Petrarch finally collapsed in the wilderness.

In his dying moments, a gentle voice sounded in his ears.

"Healing magic - Gulu Lingbo."

A gentle light infused Petrarch's body, but it was not enough to save his dying life.

Looking at the dying Petrarch, the woman panicked and finally made a decision.

"Yes, if you use this."

The woman took out a fragment emitting golden light from somewhere and injected it into Petrarch's body.

[Golden Rule Lv1]: Obtained through the Law Fragment, this incomplete Golden Rule grants the holder greater vitality and slightly extends their lifespan.

Although I don’t know the origin of this fragment, judging from its effect, it should be a very precious thing.

"Why did you save me?" Petrarch asked after waking up.

"Because you appeared before me."

This is how he met Laura.

Later, Laura adopted the homeless Petrarch and took him on trips.

With Laura by his side, Petrarch learned to read and saw the vastness and colorful world.

He gradually came to enjoy writing poetry because Laura would praise him for doing so.

When Petrarch first met Laura, he would tremble from time to time because of the nightmare of the destruction of his hometown. Whenever this happened, Laura would hold him in her arms to sleep, and it gradually became a habit.

After meeting Laura, Petrarch felt as if something that was missing in his heart was filled again.

Due to malnutrition since childhood, Petrarch developed a little later than other children of the same age, but after the age of 15, he also developed gender awareness and asked to sleep in a separate bed from Laura.

As he grew older, his feelings for Laura continued to deepen and gradually changed.

The journey lasted for three years. In early 903, after the Labyrinth City was recaptured by the Federation and stability was restored, they returned to the city to settle down.

The poor and stable life lasted for another two years, and Petrarch thought that this time would last forever.

On Petrarch's 18th birthday, he and Laura drank a lot of wine to celebrate.

At night, Petrarch woke up in the middle of the night and found Laura sleeping in the same bed with him.

It seemed that Laura must be drunk, which was why she climbed into his bed dizzy like she did when she was a child.

After realizing this, Petrarch was about to get up and go to the next room, but at this moment, he found that Laura's chest was emitting a blue light.

The light seemed to have some kind of attraction. Petrarch finally couldn't resist his curiosity and lifted Laura's pajamas to take a look.

He saw a blue crystal under Laura's chest.

After committing such a disrespectful act, Petrarch fell into deep self-loathing for a time, but after the contradiction, he finally recognized his feelings.

He loves Laura, and this love contains both family affection and love between men and women.

But since that night, Laura, who used to smile all day long, often had a worried expression on her face.

Petrarch initially thought that his actions had exposed him, but this did not seem to be the case.

Petrarch, who was trapped in love at the time, had no extra thoughts to explore Laura's abnormality.

After hesitating for a long time, he decided to confess to Laura.

What he got was a rejection and a farewell letter.

Petrarch, who refused to give up, caught up with Laura who wanted to leave, and used all his life's skills to express his feelings.

Seeing that Laura still refused to change her mind, he even threw a tantrum and threatened that he could not live without Laura by his side.

Looking at Petrarch, who was so sad that he almost forgot to breathe, Laura finally said:

"Live well, and if one day you can earn 10 crore rupees, I will come back to find you."

Before leaving, Laura took off the blue crystal on her chest and gave it to him.

Petrarch later learned that this was the life crystal of the elves.

Petrarch then fell into depression for five years, during which time he wrote countless poems to express his emotions.

During the saddest days, he even relied on eating ginseng to numb himself.

But his longing for Laura did not diminish in the slightest, but grew stronger day by day. Finally, he remembered the seemingly impossible promise.

10 crore rupees.

Petrarch looked at the mushrooms in his hand and suddenly had an idea.

He once learned a skill called animal communication from Laura, and also tried to communicate with highly intelligent animals in the maze, such as the two-headed monkey...

Later, by selling hallucinogens, Petrarch gradually accumulated some wealth, but the astronomical figure of 10 billion was still out of reach.

He still didn't understand why Laura came up with such an exaggerated number.

Over the years, he has tried various means to find Laura's whereabouts, but in the end he found nothing.

In 920, just as Petrarch was feeling hopeless, he encountered members of the Returning sect.

"You have fragments of the Golden Law in you."

The believers told him that the Golden Rule was a law created by the King of Aiden to prolong the lifespan of all living beings.

Now that the law has been broken, a special ceremony must be held in order for the fragments of the law to exert their true power.

Take the Golden Rule for example. After absorbing enough gold, this ability will evolve, thereby extending the lifespan of the holder.

"That elf must be trying to use you to make money and prolong his life."

Petrarch was already in despair because he had not heard from Laura for more than ten years. The instigation of the cultists became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

He believed this statement for a while, and as a result, he turned his love for Laura into hatred and wrote a lot of vicious words in his diary.

He also tried to forget the agreement and spent his savings on a life of luxury for a while.

But as time went on, Petrarch found that he still couldn't forget Laura.

Even if he was really used, he still wanted to see Laura again.

Relying on this obsession, he continued to accumulate wealth.

In 933, Petrarch bought a gold mine. According to the mining speed of gold, it would take more than 30 years to save enough gold to upgrade the Golden Rule.

He wrote to Laura to tell her the news, but Laura still did not reply.

At first, Petrarch felt lost, but gradually he felt relieved.

In the last few years of his life, Petrarch finally understood what he had been looking forward to.

In order to realize this wish, he decided to complete the ritual of the Golden Rule alone.

According to the Return Sect, upgrading the Golden Rule requires not only gold, but also huge magical power as support. To achieve this, a ceremony must be held in the maze.